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Made a solar charged emergency power box (with pics)

9K views 27 replies 18 participants last post by  AKRick 
#1 ·
Ok, first off I realize I'm not a professional electrician (or anything, really.) But I came up with an idea to build a multi-purpose power box. I used a plastic utility box from Home Depot (18.99,) a 7Amp Charge Controller from Harbor Freight (25 bucks,) a light fixture and base from Home Depot (2.99,) a 12VAC/DC 2 Watt LED Bulb (22.00,) a Werker 12V 12AH battery (35.00,) and a switch from Radio Shack (3.99.) And a 400W inverter (50.00.) Oh, and also a "sling" from a Super Soaker :goof:

I got my father to help, and we spent the day stuff it in the box, and attaching the wires. I placed two terminals outside the box to attach solar panels to for charging the battery.










I had a lot of fun, and I think I'll get a lot of use out of this box for the light, charging my cell phone, etc. Even a small power panel could recharge the power spent charging my phone and using the light all night. I also ran a DVD player and 21 inch LED TV for an entire movie


Not the best quality build, but it was fun and got to spend the afternoon messing around on a project with my dad! I posted this on Arfcom but thought I'd share here.



Update:

In case anyone is interested... had the power go out again. Really bad storms on an off... but two 2W panels managed to keep my box at 12.9v, allowing me to keep my cell phone charged and to use the light on the box (2W bulb.) I ran the light an hour or so a night.

Below, I hooked it up to one of my 15W folding panels since I hadn't tested those out.








Off topic, it was also a great test for my main solar array which made things a lot of fun. The only thing that sucked was sometimes the window AC compressor would peak and cause my inverter to shut off when running other things. I am going to try to hook up a 120W wind unit and get a 5kW Pure Sine the next opportunity.
 
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#3 ·
beefcakeb0 said:
Very interesting. So it was less than $170 worth of parts, how many hours...and what do you charge for labor? :mrgreen:
a couple hours, once I had all the parts. And for that kind of craftsmanship (burning my fingers on the soldering iron, stabbing myself in the thigh with a screw driver trying to do the job of a file, etc) I probably couldn't charge very much :twirl:
 
#9 ·
dead_eye said:
Who made the panel with the readout and all the outputs?

If space allows try and get 2 batteries in there and wire them in parallel. 2 batteries sharing the load will hold up better, and of course give you more run time.

Harbor Freight Charge Controller. And there's not much more room in the box for another battery... but my either portable battery pack has two 33AH wired that way.
 
#11 ·
Seriously, you could probably market something like this. It's very well done and professional looking.

Did you attatch the carry handle by just slotting the case and making a loop from the strap?

Have you tried to recharge it by solar panels yet, and if so, how long did it take and how many panels did it take?

During Hurricane Isabel I was without power for a couple of weeks. One of the things I used was one of those "jump box" battery jumpers. It had a light like your's as well. That comes in handy, not so much for constant use, but being able to illuminate things around your source of power while you fiddle around with both hands comes in more than handy. Good idea there including the light.

My jump box didn't have an inverter connected to it (optional and not worth the expense for the OEM one), but from being a truck driver I had a bunch of 12VDC stuff that I could use, like a flourescent drop light, water heater coil, TV, etc.

Recharging the jump box required me to plug it into something. It could be wall power (which I didn't have) or car plug, which meant you had to run a vehicle.

Since then I now have a 5500W generator, but it's not anywhere near as portable, and sometimes I just don't want to break it out and fire it up just for a power outage that's short term, like transformer blown, or tree down. This kind of box would seem to be a much better option than the "jump box" simply from the battery capacity standpoint. Add the inverter and solar recharge capability and it's a winner IMO.

Another vote for "sticky". At least until I can build one myself :grin:
 
#13 ·
Ross said:
Seriously, you could probably market something like this. It's very well done and professional looking.

Did you attatch the carry handle by just slotting the case and making a loop from the strap?

Have you tried to recharge it by solar panels yet, and if so, how long did it take and how many panels did it take?

During Hurricane Isabel I was without power for a couple of weeks. One of the things I used was one of those "jump box" battery jumpers. It had a light like your's as well. That comes in handy, not so much for constant use, but being able to illuminate things around your source of power while you fiddle around with both hands comes in more than handy. Good idea there including the light.

My jump box didn't have an inverter connected to it (optional and not worth the expense for the OEM one), but from being a truck driver I had a bunch of 12VDC stuff that I could use, like a flourescent drop light, water heater coil, TV, etc.

Recharging the jump box required me to plug it into something. It could be wall power (which I didn't have) or car plug, which meant you had to run a vehicle.

Since then I now have a 5500W generator, but it's not anywhere near as portable, and sometimes I just don't want to break it out and fire it up just for a power outage that's short term, like transformer blown, or tree down. This kind of box would seem to be a much better option than the "jump box" simply from the battery capacity standpoint. Add the inverter and solar recharge capability and it's a winner IMO.

Another vote for "sticky". At least until I can build one myself :grin:
Yep, I just slotted the receiver and looped the strap through. Regarding recharge time, it varies entirely on your solar setup. For instance... if I run the light and cell charger all night (9 hours) I need to replace 36 watts. With a 5 watt panel from Walmart and good conditions, I could do it in a sunny day (though I wouldn't run it all night.) If you were to buy the 45W kit from Harbor Freight (130 bucks or something) you could recharge your use of the light and cell charger for 9 hours in as little as one hour. You just have to replace he watt hours you used up.
 
#15 ·
Dutchkma said:
Has it been tested with any "solar" inputs for charging as the title of this post states?
I'm not sure I understand the question?

Because I built it with a 7amp controller, I can't use my main solar power unit (as it's over 100amps.) But I have have 4 reserve points charging AGM batteries at different areas of my house(600W, 200, 90 and 15.) I have charged this box using the 90 and 15 station, as well as a 2 Watt panel with 4.5AH SLA battery from my porch I use to charge my phone when I'm in the living room.
 
#19 ·
In case anyone is interested... had the power go out again. Really bad storms on an off... but two 2W panels managed to keep my cell phone charged and allowed me to use the light on the box (2W bulb.) I ran the light an hour or so a night, and kept my cell phone at full charge.

Off topic, it was also a great test for my main solar array which made things a lot of fun. The only thing that sucked was sometimes the window AC compressor would peak and cause my inverter to shut off when running other things. I am going to try to hook up a 120W wind unit and get a 5kW Pure Sine the next opportunity.
 
#23 ·
drakinclaw said:
Damn dude, Bravo.

Drakin
I have about 4 now, came in real dern handy in July. Power went out for a several days, and my primary solar panels went almost entirely to AC (it was 105-110F here during that period.) So it was good to have several portable light units. Plus they powered my entertainment unit.

Obviously my priorities were skewed :grin:
 
#24 ·
I just thought I'd update. I've used this thing a billion times, and made a smaller version that was just a flashlight, with a ridiculously bright LED bulb that can light several rooms at once haha

Definitely worth doing, it was a lot of fun and still rolling.
 
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